Central bank of India i.e. Reserve Bank of India is one of those institutions which has seen the era before and after independence. Do you know that RBI was the central bank of Pakistan even after independence.
Reserve Bank of India: On 15 August, the country will celebrate its 77th Independence Day. India became independent from British rule on 15 August 1947. However, the joy of independence has also brought with it the wound of partition. But, do you know that the Central Bank of India i.e. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been a witness both before and after independence. Not only this, RBI was once the central bank of India as well as Pakistan and Burma.
RBI was formed on the recommendation of Hilton Young Commission
According to the RBI website, the Reserve Bank of India was established on the basis of the recommendations of the Hilton Young Commission. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (Act II of 1934) provides the statutory basis for the functioning of the bank, which began operations on April 1, 1935. According to the RBI website, Burma (now Myanmar) separated from the Indian Union in 1937, but the Reserve Bank continued to function as the central bank for Burma until the Japanese occupation and later until April 1947.
RBI was the central bank of Pakistan until 1948
Before independence, offices of the banking department were established in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi and Rangoon. After the partition of India, the Reserve Bank of India functioned as the central bank of Pakistan until June 1948, when the State Bank of Pakistan began operations, according to the Reserve Bank of India website. The Reserve Bank of India was nationalised in 1949.
RBI’s balance sheet is Rs 70.48 lakh crore
Let us tell you that in the financial year 2024, the balance sheet of the Reserve Bank of India has increased by 11 percent to Rs 70.48 lakh crore (about $ 844.76 billion). This is two and a half times the GDP of Pakistan. In the financial year 2024, the income of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased by 17.04 percent. At the same time, RBI’s expenditure has declined by 56.03 percent in the financial year 2024. RBI’s surplus has increased by 141.23 percent in the financial year 2024.